The flowers we put on the swing.We arrived in the studio early on the 8th of November ready to get started on the shooting of our music video. We got the lead singer straight into her outfit and started getting her hair and make-up done. Meanwhile we put the finishing touches on our set on the big cage. We had bought plastic flowers and ivy from ‘Nottcuts’ a garden centre and decorated the plain swing rope with the ivy and flowers. This was in an effort to make the swing appear more thematic. Finally at about ten o’clock we were finally ready to start shooting however we realized slightly earlier that we did not have any dry ice available for our shoot, therefore we had to try and make-do with a regular smoke machine. During the first take (wide shot) the smoke just ended up filling the room and surrounding Karis (our lead singer) with smoke making the visibility very poor. Therefore we had to get somebody to wave a piece of cardboard to try and keep the smoke on the floor. I was the cameraman, Gabby was on playback and Sophie waved the cardboard. After about two or three takes we decided the smoke wasn’t working and so we scrapped the smoke and moved on without it. However we realized that the shots didn’t look good with the studio floor so we had to think quickly to find a solution, we luckily managed to get a massive black sheet that covered the whole studio floor from the theatre department and with that we managed to film wide shots of the cage. This in fact ended up working better for us as it made the set appear deeper than it actually was. We then shot mid-shots and close-ups till about eleven and after that we did tracking shots. We tried to get all the shots with the cage in before lunch so that we could move onto the band shots in the afternoon. Unfortunately we fell a bit behind on schedule and we had to shoot the feather shots in the cage after lunch so the band shots were left till later on.
Karis getting her make-up done.
The smoke filling the studio room.The feather shots were the most interesting and most time consuming to shoot. We filmed them using slow motion and regular time, this gave us a really nice diverse range of shots to pick from. The slow motion shots looked really interesting and extremely visually creative. To shoot the shots with feathers falling down we bundled a huge amount of feathers into a device made by the media staff that consisted of a black sheet with holes in it and two wooden stick running down either side, this aloud feathers to fall through the holes gracefully instead of clumps of feathers falling in front of the camera. We sent one person up the ladder and another up the cherry picker and on the right cue they shook the feathers. As well as that we also had a fan blowing to make the feathers float about more but we also had several people throwing feathers onto the fan and people throwing feathers in front of the camera to give the appearance of more feathers. After each shot was finished the hard task of collecting up all the feathers to re-shoot began, this in itself was very time consuming and we couldn’t use a Hoover to suck them up faster as we would have damaged the feathers therefore after each take we had to collect up all the feathers again and again.
Picking up all the feathers after each take.We shot the band shots around three o’clock and due to the fact we were running behind schedule we had to do these very quickly and it was quite rushed. I think due to this fact the shots weren’t that great, as the band didn’t have time to zone in and get into it. They all seemed a bit stiff and unfocused, it probably didn’t help that they didn’t know how to play their instruments but unfortunately it didn’t go so well with the band as we had hoped.
The band getting ready for a take.We wrapped at about four thirty and had to strip the set and clear up so the next group could set up. This was quite quick however we had to take the big black, heavy sheet back to the theatre and clean it to get rid of at the feathers and dirt on it from the shoot. This took at least the good part of an hour but once we had completed that job we had finished for the day.
We didn’t seem to have a huge amount problems through the day however as I previously mentioned the finding of the black sheet to cover the studio floor was quite a problem as we were originally told we would have dry ice that would cover the floor however none turned up on the day so we had to find a solution. Another difficulty we had during the day was with the lighting of our set, due to the fact our singing, Karis, was in a cage, it caused problems when trying to light it as there were a lot of shadows on her face. So we were constantly changing the lighting to try and get it right for the whole set as it seemed to be lighter and darker in different areas of the cage, which also meant we were constantly changing the white balance. We ended up not only using the original lighting that we set but we also brought in two Redheads to shine light one the front of the cage to stop vertical lines on Karis’ face. However the problem could never fully be solved as no matter were you placed the lights the cage bars were always going to create shadows somewhere.
Using the JCV500 camera to film.
For the whole shoot we used the JCV500 camera that was an HD camera. This allowed us to shoot our video in high definition and therefore it will be better quality. We used tracking as well to capture a 180 degree angle of the set in a few of the shots, to do this we used a Vinton tripod and tracked both left to right and right to left. This allowed us to capture the cage from interesting angles and give us some more diversity in our shot choice. We also used the cherry picker to get a crane style shot from above the cage of the swing spinning round. We also shot this in slow motion that gave a beautiful and thematic look to the shot.
There were several shots that worked for me, one was the feather shots simply because the feathers look really delicate and beautiful falling around Karis as she sings and because it gives the viewer a centre of interest however because the feathers are falling around her it gives the viewer more to take in and focus on, it is aesthetically pleasing. Another was the tracking shots as I think the movement and angles very creative and interesting and will hopefully look more diverse in the video instead of the conventional, mid-shot, wide-shot and close-up. Also as I previously mentioned I think the slow motion shots of the swing twirling round are visually interesting and as her face passes through each hot spot I think it will hopefully give the viewer as pleasing and intimae feel.
Shooting above the cage for a crane effect.
I think that the band shots did not work very well, I don’t think they were set up that well in that the positioning of all the members wasn’t that great, we had to quickly shoot it in the corner of the studio in quite a cramped space and get all the feathers back out to shoot the band in feathers. As a whole none of the band shots really worked which was very disappointing as it would have added a performance element to the video, however none of the shots visually worked and the composition of the shots was quite poor. However we did manage to get a few good close-ups of hands playing instruments but without an establishing shot of the band none of them work.
I think overall the shoot went rather well, our lead singer Karis was absolutely fantastic performance wise, she knew all her words, took direction really well and really gave it her all every time. The shots that we got I was very pleased with and I was so glad that the shots of the feathers turned out as good as we had hoped if not better. Yes it was disappointing that we couldn’t get any decent band shots but I am sure we can work around that and edit the video differently. Overall it was a really enjoyable day and I think it was a great experience working on a project and seeing it come alive.
The feathers falling during one of the shots.
